Strength
by BlazedDreams
Summary: Pretend Maura has a half sister from Patty Doyle's side. Her name is Spencer, she has been living with Maura for about a month. SPencer discovers that she is Pregnant. With the help and support of Jane and Maura, Spencer has to come to terms with all that is happening. She also has to let her guard down and learn to trust Maura and Jane.
1. Chapter 1

It seemed that recently, all Spencer Grey had was terrible luck.

To shorten the story:

Spencer's late father, Alec Grey, murdered her mother, Sybil Montgomery-Grey, upon discovering that he was not Spencer's biological father. To make matters worse, her mother's murder investigation solved a cold case involving the murder of one of Spencer's close friends. Further into the case Spencer's paternal DNA revealed to be Patrick Doyle Jr. Which is how Spencer ended up living with Maura Isle's…her sister.

It had been 1 month since Spencer had moved in. To Maura'a surprise, Spencer was no trouble at all. She seemed to be coping quite well considering the circumstances.

Spencer is 17, a senior in high school. She was extremely intelligent, Jane could easily see the similarities between the two sisters. Spencer was wise beyond her years, she had this gracefulness to her, although you could see a hurt in her eyes; a feature on her face that was hard to avoid. She was slender, about 100 lbs, 5'4", her hair long just past her breast, sandy blonde a little darker than Maura's. She had bright grey eyes, they almost seemed to change color sometimes being a light blue, sometimes being a deep grey. She always looked like she had hopped out of a page of Vogue magazine, a quality both she and Maura shared.

Jane sat at her desk going over a case file when a slender figure approached her. She was surprised to look up to find Spencer. She looked a little shooken up.

"Hey." Jane said sounding surprised.

"Hey, sorry to bother." She said a bit apprehensive.

"No, no bother at all." Jane could see that Spencer was a little uncomfortable, "I was about to grab a bite to eat, care to join me?" she closed the file on her desk and grabbed her blazer from her chair.

"that would be good." Spencer responded, she gave Jane a smile but Jane was no fool, she could see that something was clearly pending in the young girl's brain, something was up.

They were silent the whole elevator ride down to the café. Angela seated them in the far corner so they could have some privacy, just as Spencer had requested.

"I needed someone to talk to." Spencer said, looking out the window avoiding Jane's eyes.

"You know you can always come to me no matter what." Jane said trying to make Spencer more comfortable. For the past few minutes they had sat there, Spencer had just played with the tea bag in her cup, staring out the window or at the cup, not looking up at jane at all. "Everything ok?"

"I'm pregnant." Spencer said, finally looking at Jane.

Jane was silent. Angela appeared with Jane's lunch order. She could sense something was off.

"Everything ok, Janey you look like you've seen a ghost." Angela said. Spencer had a doe-eyed look.

"Ma, can you give us a minute?" Jane quietly yet professionally said, realizing Spencer was on the verge of tears.

Angela took the cue and backed away.

"Sweety, look at me." Jane said in a low whisper, placing a hand on Spencer's which was now trembling a little bit. "We will work this out. Ok. We will work everything out." She stood up and pulled Spencer up off her seat, embracing her in a hug, a very necessary hug.

Angela saw the way her daughter held the teenager that stood before her. Her heart just melted. She had grown very fond of Spencer. She was very reserved for a 17 year old. Very organized and goal oriented. Even with what had happened to her, she watched that girl continue with her life, privately dealing with her grief but not allowing it to disrupt her life. She was strong.

"I don't know how to tell Maura." Spencer finally said after a few silent minutes. "I just- incase- umm-.." she paused for a second, composing herself, "incase she asks me to leave-"

"whoa, whoa." Jane interrupted, "Maura would never do that." She paused but didn't hesitate to ask, "who-"

"Toby," she said almost to a whisper. "he's coming into Boston tomorrow. I just had to tell someone, I don't know how to even wrap my mind around this."

"are you 100% sure?" Jane asked realizing with all that's been going on, Spencer could just be under too much stress.

Spencer reached into her pocket book and slid a small envelope towards Jane.

"I feel stupid, I didn't put two and two together. I have been feeling different, I just assumed I was depressed, stressed, something." Spencer said releasing her hand off the envelope

"we all make mistakes, you can't beat yourself up over this." Jane said opening the envelope. Inside was a sonogram. She wasn't a doctor but it didn't take a Phd to see the full formation of a baby on the sonogram meaning Spencer was well in to this pregnancy.

"13 weeks. 14 on Monday. So technically 13 and a half." She couldn't help but notice Janes eyes drop down to her abdomen. "I know. It's hard to believe that's in there."

Jane could see a glimmer in Spencer's eye, it was a small glimmer of happiness. Jane didn't know what to say. She knew the statistics of teenage pregnancy, but she knew that Spencer wasn't any average teen. She had been through hell and back still standing strong. She also had the Rizzoli's and Maura by her side and although they had only known her 1 month, she had made her way into their hearts.

"Promise me you'll keep this a secret." Interrupting Jane from her thoughts. "I will tell Maura, I mean I can't hide this much longer. I just would like for Toby and I to talk about this first."

Jane understood where Spencer was coming from, but she knew it wasn't going to be easy to hide this from Maura let alone her Mother.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that afternoon, Spencer arrived to the house to find Angela and Maura in the kitchen cooking dinner and Jane sitting by the island drinking a beer.

"Hey!" Maura greeted seeing Spencer walking in. Jane turned to greet the her as well.

She threw her bag over the sofa and took a seat next to Jane. "Hey."

"You look tired, are you feeling ok?" Angela said glancing up at Spencer while cutting up some vegetables.

Spencer glanced over at Jane, wondering if she had said something.  
"Long day." She said getting up and walking to the fridge for a bottle of water.

"your school called today." Spencer dropped the bottle of water, startling everyone in the kitchen. "Spence?" Maura had gotten into the habit of calling her that.

"sorry," she gave them a fake smile, "hand is slippery." She picked up the bottle and made her way back next to Jane. "what'd they want?" her voice a little higher than usual. Jane could tell by Spencer's tense body language that she was nervous.

"oh, they approved your work-study at the lab 3 days a week." Maura turned to smiling. "The Principal wanted to give you the news but he said you were absent from school today. Where were you today?" Her voice stern and disciplined.

"I needed a personal day." Spencer responded bravely.

"I just wish you'd come to me if you needed a day home from school."

Spencer felt beyond nervous, it must have been the hormones. Lately she felt easily overwhelmed; racing heartbeat, sweaty palms, sometimes a little queezy. But now she understood why. In this moment she was struggling even more to keep herself composed. She sat silent, just consumed in thought. Her Cell phone buzzed breaking the awkward silence that had erupted.

_I will be there soon. Everything will be ok, I promise. _

_Love you,_

_Toby._

Spencer just smiled. Toby was her everything back in Rosewood. They were their Highschool's power couple. When Allison disappeared, Toby was there for her. (Allison is her friend that her mother murdered). Up until she had officially moved to Boston with Maura, he had been by her side.

"Are you sure you're ok sweety?" Angela asked again.

"I'm fine." She smiled. "I have an essay to write, I'm gonna head up to my room." She slowly got up. And headed for the stairs.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour." Maura called up behind her.

After she was in her room, the whispering in the kitchen started.

"I'm concerned about her. " Maura said standing opposite Jane and next to Angela.

Jane took a swig of her beer.

"Jane, do you know something?" Maura asked.

"Janey…" Angela like always couldn't help herself from budding in.

"It's not my place to say anything." Jane said looking sternly at Angela and Maura.

Dinner seemed to drag on. Jane was under a spotlight, Maura and Angela sensed something going on. Spencer wasn't too keen on letting them in and they didn't want to pressure her into talking.

The awkward silence that was dinner was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

"mmm, I wonder who that could be?!" Maura said taking a sip of water before getting up to answer the door.

At the other end stood Toby with a duffle bag hung to his shoulder.

"Hi, what an unexpected surprise." Maura said moving aside to give him room to enter.

Spencer was surprised to see him there. She immediately got up and ran to him. He embraced her with a very welcoming hug, scooping her up and giving her a very romantic kiss.

Her world around her disappeared. She for a moment forgot about Maura, jane, and Angela. She got lost in his touch, his feel, his smell, his warmth. She didn't want that moment to end.

Reality soon cut in, "what are you doing here?" she asked arms wrapped around the back of his neck as they passionately stared in each other's eyes.

Angela awkwardly cleared her throat in the background.

"We are having dinner If you are hungry." Maura said grabbing a plate from the cabinet. "plenty to go around." She smiled welcomingly.

They sat at the dinner table. Spencer looking at toby doe-eyed.

"I can't believe you're here." They had agreed he's arrive Saturday, he's 2 days early.

"Do your parents know you are here?" Angela cut in.

"No ma'am." He answered honestly.

"You know you are welcome here, but this is a little off guard." Jane said for Maura, she could tell Maura was too kind to say anything.

"My parents and I didn't see eye to eye on something." He looked up at Spencer, "I didn't know where else to go."

Spencer immediately tensed up. She just looked at Toby, she mouthed 'Don't' to him.

"is there something we-, I should know?" Maura asked picking up on Spencer's unease.

"Spence, you told me you told." Toby said quietly, ignoring everyone around him.

Spencer got up, her face a little more pale than usual, "I really can't-"  
she turned and ran up the stairs leaving Mrs. Rizzoli and Maura confused.

"OK, what is going on here?" Angela didn't hesitate to ask. "Jane?! Toby?" she glanced back inforth between the two.

Maura ran upstairs to talk to Spencer. Her bedroom door was open, Spencer wasn't there, but the bathroom door was shut and the light was on.

Maura knocked, "Spence, sweety, what's going on? Talk to me." She got no response. A minute later, the toilet flushed and the sink was turned on. Then Maura heard soft footsteps nearing the door. Her shadow stood still a good 10 seconds before the door slowly opened. Maura stood before Spencer, a sincere concerned look on her face.

"I was going to tell you, I just didn't know how." Spencer started crying.

"Shhhhh" Maura cooed as she held Spencer. "it's ok, it's ok."

Maura must have held her for a good 15 min before Spencer mustard up the courage to speak.

"You must be so disappointed." She sat up, composing herself.

"Not at all." Maura said a little surprised. "We are all at risk of mistakes, I know ive made plenty myself." She chuckled a little. "I know that whatever you decide to do, that you will be more than capable to handling."

Spencer felt so releaved. She was afraid to lose Maura and Jane and Angela, they were her family now. She began to sob, she tried not to but it just came spilling out.

"Sorry, So-sorry." She manage to say between sobs. "You've done so mu-much for me, th-this isn't fa-fair to you."

"Spencer, you are my sister, and I made a promise to you that I would be here for you no matter what." She pulled Spencer closer, hugging her so tightly.

Downstairs, Jane and Toby had a long chat. Jane asked Angela if she could call it an early night, Angela suspected what was going on and she understood Maura would need some space.

"I didn't mean to-" Toby said head buried in his hands, he still sat at the dinner table.

"The truth was going to come out sooner or later, better sooner than later." Jane reassured him. "What happened tonight?"

"My dad, he overheard my conversation with Spencer this morning. He snooped through my things and found my train pass, read my texts to her and went ballistic. He handed me a blank check and told me to 'fix-it'" he looked up at Jane, she could sense the hurt in his voice. "I know we are young, but I love her and I know she loves me too. I know we can make this work."

"Have you two had a chance to talk about what you plan on doing?"

"No, I think we were both just trying to wrap out minds around the fact that this baby is coming whether we are ready or not." He smiled at the thought of his baby. "I love her." He said looking directly at Jane.

Maura soon after came downstairs, "she fell asleep." She said in a low voice. Jane and Toby had cleared the dishes while waiting for spencer or Maura to return.

"I can go to a hotel." Toby said standing up. "I know I have to earn your trust, and it wont be easy. I can only imagine what you think of me." He paused for a second. "But I'd never do anything to hurt Spencer on purpose." He was headed towards his duffel, Maura stopped him.

"The couch is the best I can do for now, we have a lot to talk about tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_13 and a half weeks earlier…_

_Spencer arrived home from school. The front door wide open, nothing seemed out of place but she knew that her mother would never just leave the front door wide open like that. _

_She heard a thud come from the upstairs. _

_As she slowly made her way up the stairs, she called out for her mom, "MOM?!" no response. "DAD?!" no response. She approached the last step and saw a smear of blood on the wall, a trace made but slender fingers. Her mind immediately jumping to her mother. She hears a moan on the other end of her parent's bedroom and rushes in only to find her mother sprawled on the floor, blood pooling beneath her, a gun on the floor, and their sliding door completely open. _

_She rushed to her mom, who was barely breathing. She compressed the bullet wound, blood gushing even more. Her mother had been shot just above the heart. She had bruises forming on her face, she was clearly beaten. She reached into her pocket for her phone, still applying pressure with her other hand, and dialed 9-1-1. _

Spencer awoke to the smell of breakfast; eggs, bacon, buttered toast. The smell made her stomach growl intensely. She walked downstairs, surprised to see Toby preparing breakfast.

"Hey." He whispered to her smiling.

"hey." She stood at the base of the stairs, head rested against the wall.

"Maura called you out of school. She said to tell you she and Jane will be here by lunch." He was facing away from Spencer as he spoke, moving about with his cooking.

He turned with a plate; eggs, French toast, bacon, fresh fruit, OJ. He placed it on the island, Spencer walking over to take a seat.

"I feel so hungry right now." She said surprised with herself. She was rather thin for her height, she wasn't unhealthy though. She was built similarly like Jane.

He watched her eat, he couldn't help but laugh at how quickly she ate her breakfast. In all the time he'd known her, he'd never seen her so…hungry.

After she ate, he sat next to her, and just grabbed her hand. "Im a little surprised that they left us alone." Spencer said whilst staring intently into his eyes. He had hazel colored eyes which made his stare warm and comforting to her.

"well, I think they understand that we are soon to be adults and we have a baby on the way so they are trusting us to act responsibly from here on out." He tried to simplify the sum of his night. He let out a soft laugh, "How are you feeling?" He asked changing the subject.

"I feel full." She said bluntly, a smile creeping on her lips.

He glanced over at the nearly empty plate. "well I can see why." He teased.

"what happened last night?" she asked, going back to the obvious matter that needed to be discussed.

"My dad knows." Toby said in a low tone of voice. The kind that indicated to her that what he was going to tell her wasn't good news. "he didn't react so kind heartedly." He didn't want to upset Spencer but he never kept anything from her. "He wanted us to get an abortion, once I told him that was an option, he told me to grab my things and go."

"Babe!" Spence cried out. "No, im so sorry." She got up and hugged him. She wasn't usually so emotional.

"Don't you be sorry, this is not your fault. This is a result of a decision that we both made." He pulled her in closer to him.


End file.
